Job Well Done II: Happily Ever After
by AllUNeedIsFaith
Summary: Sequel to Job Well Done. Russ, Fred, Angel and Cordy are all back. So come, read my story and find out if Fred and Russ get their happy ending. FredOC AngelCordy
1. Intro

Okay, this is for the newcomers (AKA those who haven't read the first story). Hello! I am JB AKA Pen name AllUNeedIsFaith. This is my story Job Well Done II: Happily Ever After. Obviously. And you would know that cos YOU are the one who clicked on the blue underlined thing that said 'Job Well Done II: Happily Ever After'.

Okay, right into explanations.

The guy in the suit, even though you don't find out in the first chapter, is Russet Brown. Now I just screwed up any suspense I made by not mentioning his name in the chapter. The first description of him focuses on the suit so I will now insert a proper description of him here for the new comers: He's got brown hair and brown eyes but they're not full brown. There's a reddish tinge in his hair and a yellowish quality in his eyes. Average height, slightly shorter than Angel, average build and this really cute grin. He's one of those 'heart of gold' guys you hear about, one of the reasons he's a Power. He puts others before himself and he is the sweetest guy alive. IN this story he's changed and is bitter and everything cos of a reason I'll explain later. I'll also explain later what a Power is doing wandering around on the earth helping people, and champions.

Then there is, obviously, Fred who is... Fred! Now Fred and Russ fell in love back in my first story and then were separated because Russ is a Power which is quite ironic because he fought to keep Fred and ----- (one that shall be unnamed until the caps down there) out of the clutches of the Powers. But that was before he knew he was a Power (I'll explain that later too).

Now this story is more about the 'mental' journey. In other words if you're looking for action this is not the place. Russ may kick some ass but Angel is all un-ass-kicking cos in this story he's... HUMAN! (DUN, DUN, DUN) Yeah, I know that screws up any interesting supernatural things, therefore the reason Russ is all bitter and into kicking asses quickly and efficiently (unlike in the previous story where he's more the comic relief). But this factor (Angel being human) turns it into a romantic story evermore because there, right by his side is... CORDY!

Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Choke! Choke! Choke! Ahem. Yeah, I'm cool.

So that's about all the explaining that is necessary I think. So let's get into this story that reeks of 'sequel' and has it printed in huge letters across its forehead. SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL!

Okay onward with the SEQUEL!

I promise I'll be fine in just a minute...

I'll love you if you review! -------- (conditions apply)

JB

Maq Uni Sandra 98507920


	2. Chapter 1: Remembering

Chapter 1

A man with brown-red hair and brown-yellow eyes walked into a Brazilian bar at noon. Despite the sweltering heat outside he was wearing a crisp navy suit with all the buttons done up. The only other occupants of the car were the barkeep, an old man with a bored expression on his face, a man sitting with his back to the door and a scraggly man in the dark corner of the room.

Overhead a canvas fan that looked about fifty years old circled lazily, not doing much to circulate the air in the bar that hung low with the heaviness that only hot humid air has. The man in the suit did not feel any of the weight, however, and he walked with an ease that made him look as if he was gliding on the air. He searched the almost empty bar with his sky blue eyes before finding what he was looking for. The man sitting with his back to the door, at a table dealing himself a game of solitaire.

The man had a gold tooth that replaced his front tooth, which he claimed to be lucky. He was dressed almost completely opposite to the man in the suit, he was dressed as you would expect someone to dress in the heat of the day, wearing a singlet, cargo shorts and thongs. He was overweight and you could see his pot belly through the stained singlet. He wore a straw hat on his head that looked as if it had been forced on and was probably cutting off the circulation. At regular intervals he used on of his dirty fingernails to try and pick some old, half rotten piece of meat out from his teeth but he never succeeded.

The man in the suit walked over to him and thumped an expensive black suitcase down on the table next to him. The overweight man jumped slightly but then turned to see the man in the suit and smiled lightly.

"Amigo." He said, talking more to the briefcase than the man. The man ignored this and just said, with a low voice.

"You have the information." The man in the suit said it rather than asking it and by looking at him you could tell that this was not the man to cross.

"Of course. This is the money?" The overweight man asked with a heavy accent, gesturing to the case to which he'd referred to before as 'friend'. The man in the suit just answered this with a look and the overweight man held his hands in the air, he didn't want to cause trouble. Especially not with this guy, on a scale of one to ten of people not to cross this guy was one hundred. One of his looks could kill a man. Literally. He'd heard that this man had turned to ash after receiving one of those looks.

The overweight man quickly snatched the briefcase off the table and held it to him tightly. The man in the suit observed this coldly and when he didn't leave the man looked up at him before quickly realising he'd just missed his cue. Out of the pocket of his cargo shorts he dug out a grubby piece of paper and handed it to the man.

"This is the address. It took me a while to get it. Your friend isn't easy to find, I'll tell you that. Had to pull a lot of strings." The overweight man was clearly trying to squeeze some more money out of the other man but the other wouldn't have any of it.

"You're getting paid well." The man shot the overweight man a look and the overweight man withdrew. It was worth a shot. The man in the suit shook his head, how the man who could find anyone with the vaguest description without even a country to reference to managed to do this whilst living in a remote village was still beyond him.

The man in the suit cast a glance towards the scraggly man in the dark corner and threw his blazer at the overweight man.

"Hold this." He grunted as he rolled the sleeves of his light blue shirt up to his elbows. His forearms were revealed to be quite muscly, this wasn't the guy to mess with. He walked over to the scraggly man with a sunken in face and bloodshot eyes and grabbed him by the collar and dragged him towards the door. The man protested, although he wasn't strong enough to actually do anything about it.

Then about halfway to the door the scraggly man _transformed_ into a small animal like demon thing with huge teeth and even bigger claws. It started scratching at the man's arm, obviously the reason he had rolled up the sleeves. You didn't want to ruin a good suit while killing a demon thing. The man ignored the scratching that was going really deep so that it was well on its way to making the flesh get completely ripped off the man's arm.

But when it reached outside there was a squealing sound and the man came back into view of those in the bar a few seconds later, brushing off his suit and rolling his sleeves back down. His arm was regenerating and the scratches were disappearing in front of their eyes and it became very clear to the overweight man that he should leave as soon as possible before he got on the bad side of this magical man who had just killed the local demon.

So the, now terrified, overweight man threw the blazer back at the man as he was running out the door, clutching the briefcase closely to him. The man caught the blazer and put it on himself and straightened it out. He buttoned it up and put the grubby piece of paper in the inside pocket of the blazer. He brushed the blazer off one last time before scanning the remnants of the bar before leaving it theatrically, opening both sides of the Western movie style doors and walking out onto veranda.

He scanned the practically deserted town before walking to his Lear jet which was parked in the middle of it all and climbed in before asking the pilot to go to the destination written on the piece of paper. LA, California, USA.

Fred Burkle had just finished her lecture and the class was getting packed up. Fred had her back to the class, fiddling around with some text books and the mid term papers that she'd collected at the start of the lesson.

"Ms Burkle?" She heard behind her and turned, holding the books and papers. Then her eyes widened when she saw who had spoken. A young man with brown hair with a red tinge in it and brown eyes with a yellowish quality in them. Russ.

"Are you okay?" Russ asked, a grin playing behind his concerned face. Fred's eyes widened even more and her surprise had reached its maximum quota.

"Russ?" She asked, dropping the books and papers she was holding. Russ quickly went to pick them up and when he looked up she saw, instead of Russ' handsome face, the face of one of her male students.

"Are you okay miss?" He asked as he handed her the books and papers and she pushed her glasses up, flustered.

"Yes James. Fine. Thankyou." She said and the student grinned at her as he flipped his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes.

"My name's Jim." He said, and Fred could tell that he was laughing on the inside at the fact that he had flustered her. Not that it was too hard to do, she thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Jim." Fred said, correcting herself and resisting the urge to blush in front of the student.

"It's cool miss. Um, I was just wondering about something..." He juggled his own books and grabbed the textbook that he was talking about and opened it up at a page. He continued, "Were we in love?"

Fred looked up at him, completely shocked. She asked him, not able to keep the disbelief out of her voice, "What?"

"I said, 'Is there another way to do this?' You know, another combination." He said and then continued, genuine concern on his face, "Are you sure you're okay miss?"

"Yeah. Yes. I'm fine. Um, no there isn't another way because then the energy input and output would be different and as we all know, that's impossible," Fred said and laughed nervously. Jim just looked at her for a second, as if really judging if she was okay before nodding and looking back at the question.

(Okay, so the question and answer was incredibly stupid but I'm not a physics genius like Fred or the students in her class so I just had to make something up. I don't even know if what I said fits in with physics stuff... Lol, ah I suck when it comes to science.)

"Okay, thanks miss." He shut the textbook and joined his friends that were waiting for him at the door and they walked off joking between themselves. Fred sighed as they left, after she first remembered Russ a week ago she kept getting visions of him and more than once she had made an idiot of herself when she saw him. And she kept getting flashbacks to the last few minutes that they'd had together.

_Fred. I need you to listen to what I'm saying next..._

She packed up all of her material and pushed up her glasses before walking out of the room, turning off the light as she went. She cast the lab one last glance before shutting the door and locking it. She juggled the keys and the books and papers and her purse until she got her keys into her purse, got her purse onto her shoulder and was carrying the books and papers in her other arm.

_I am one of the Powers..._

She walked out to her car and got into the old, small, beaten up blue Ford. She put the key into the ignition and prayed that the car would start and after stalling for a few minutes it finally stuttered to life. She reversed out of her spot that was one of the worst ones available for the staff and started the long drive home.

_I haven't got long before I have to leave... My job here is done..._

She stopped in front of a red light and kept the replay of the last night running in her head. As she stared out at the road in front of her where cars were speeding across the intersection. Then the car behind her beeped her and she woke up with a start and urged the car forward and it reluctantly went forward, never letting the needle pass 30mph.

_You're the one and only thing that I've loved since the beginning of time..._

She finally reached her apartment block and drove into her personal spot a block away from the actual building. She let the engine idle for half a minute before turning it off and getting out, holding the papers that she had to mark and the books that she would get the answers from. Or the textbooks that she would reference to, to check if the students had just copied it from the textbook like some were infamous for.

_You won't remember me after I leave..._

That was one thing that Russ had gotten wrong. After that dream she remembered everything clearly. His grin, the tinge of yellow in his brown eyes, the shade of red in his brown hair, the look he got whenever he was actually serious. The way he told her he loved her or that she was beautiful. He was definitely good for a girl's self esteem. But that wasn't the only reason he was good.

_I love you._

He made Fred feel like she never had before. As if they were the only two people in the world and the rest of the world had just fallen away and all that existed was the here and now.

_You are so beautiful._

Well it was the 'here and now' back then. No matter how much it felt like it was recent Fred had to keep reminding herself that Russ wasn't here or anywhere remotely near LA.

But, unknowingly, this time Fred was the one who was wrong.

The Lear Jet touched down in LA airport and the man in the suit stepped out and thanked the pilot like someone would thank a bus driver for a trip downtown. He crossed from the jet to the limo that was waiting for him in a few steps. The limo that the pilot had called ahead to tell that they were coming home early.

The chauffeur held the door open for the man and he stepped in coolly. The chauffeur quickly closed the door and stepped into the driver sear and sped off the tarmac and hastened to the penthouse apartment the man in the suit owned.

The limo pushed eighty as it sped around the city, knowing where the normal traffic spots are and avoiding them. They passed through many a red light and got more than a few honks from the neighbouring cars. To which the limo driver returned the love.

Not too long after leaving the airport they stopped at the apartment block. Or should I say directly in front of the expensive looking apartment block that probably cost over a million a piece. The penthouse, being the most expensive of them all, cost close to three million (now I'm just making up outrageous prices here so don't flame me for not knowing how much LA realty is. Hey! I live in Australia okay?).

Anyway, the limo stopped within an instant of the chauffeur applying the brake and the man in the suit stepped out, completely ignoring the chauffeur who had attempted to scramble out to open his door but had failed dismally.

"Thanks Pierre. Nice driving, as always." The man in the suit said and the chauffeur smiled at him before shutting his door and driving off.

"Poor mute bastard." The man in the suit said, feeling real sorrow for him but so used to the bitterness that it came out sounding like an insult.

Then he got a rush of the feeling again. That empty feeling. He looked up at the apartment block and tried to keep it down. Soon. At least he narrowed it down to one city now. Soon the empty feeling would be just a memory. All he had to do was find her and it would be gone.

He just had to find her.


	3. Chapter 2: Meet'n'Greet

Chapter 2

He just had to find her. He scoffed at that now. Apparently finding her was as hard as the overweight man from Brazil had hinted it to be. Having only a face and a name which was probably only a nickname the man in the suit was going out empty handed. He just wandered the Los Angeles streets, trying to scrutinize every woman that passed and got several dirties from the scrutinizees. He even got a complaint from one of them.

He took all this calmly. All this, all the things he had to deal with, was worth it to find this woman. This amazing, gorgeous, humble yet strong woman who he knew was the one thing that his heart yearned for. It didn't give a damn about the Lear jet or the penthouse apartment or the limo or any of it. All that mattered was her. And for a recently turned spoiled brat it was a new experience. Even back in his days living it up in the Bronx had he never wanted something so much. Something that was so pure and good and everything he wasn't.

And ever since he was born he knew there was someone and as he grew older so did she, keeping at the same age constantly. He felt as if they were linked in some way and then two months ago he had a dream that she was in. And he knew it was her. They were in an alleyway and he felt as if he was leaving her, why he didn't know. He still remembered it pretty well. He always tried to get it again but he never could.

"_Please Fred, don't make this any harder." He said, not controlling anything he was saying._

"_But I love you." That once sentence made his heart skip a beat and that was always the moment he played in his mind._

"_And I love you too. More than you know. You're the one and only thing I've loved since the beginning of time, when I was made." He felt he had some say in that but the little bit about him being made at the beginning of time was probably some weird dream stuff. Probably a hidden meaning in there somewhere._

"_Why did you go through the trials for me if you aren't even going to stay?" Now that one confused him and he just put it down to weird dream information that his brain had jammed together in a hurry for him to process._

"_Because you deserve life. You had yours stolen from you." Once again it was a huh but in this time he saw the woman's face go through the phases and this made him want to kiss her so much... But he couldn't._

"_But how am I meant to go on without you? Knowing what we had, what we could've had." She said and this always hit the man right where he lived. Her face was just so... Her eyes were begging him to stay, something he would gladly do._

"_You won't. You won't remember me after I leave, its part of my powers." Another weird dream thing but he saw it break her heart and he wished that he could break out of the mould and just kiss her._

"_No! I don't want to. I won't. I'll never forget you Russ. I'll never forget anything." She said, shaking her head adamantly and he just wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her._

"_You've already started." Weird dream stuff but he was ignoring it now. He just wanted to..._

"_I love you." _

And then the dream was over and the man woke up in the hotel room with a start. Then he went to Brazil to find the man who knew everything. And that was how he got a location. He didn't thank him verbally but he felt the million American dollars did that job for him. And judging by his referral to the case as 'amigo' it did.

The man in the suit just kept walking the streets of LA with his hands in his pockets and his head bowed. He bumped into someone and mumbled an apology to them that sounded slightly sarcastic, understandable in his current situation but it seemed to piss off the other person and he felt a hand on his shoulder that made him pissed in return and the two faced up to each other, both pissed at the fact that the other had been brave enough to violate them and that they were being annoyed in their current state of emptiness.

So the man in the suit confronted a beautiful brunette. Then they both paused and swallowed their insults and arguments.

"Fred?" He asked, wondering what result might come from this. Either a weird look and the woman walking off or her starting to gush. It was the gush.

"Oh my god. Russ! Is it really you? I can't believe... You came back to me. You promised you would and you did! Wait, are you really Russ cos I've had a few embarrassing encounters..." Fred trailed off reddening slightly.

"Yes it's... how did you...?"

"I remembered Russ!" Fred said and then looked at his clueless face and continued on, "But obviously you haven't."

"No. Sorry." He said, really sorry. He wanted to remember. He would've done anything to remember but he just couldn't. Fred looked heartbroken at the fact that the love of her life was suffering from amnesia but she was still in disbelief that he was actually standing in front of her. Russ was standing in front of her. Russ. Her Russ.

"How did you know my name?" Fred asked, almost given up hope that Russ would remember her at all but knowing that there was one thing that was a possible lead to his memory of her. Russ seemed to redden slightly at this, incredibly out of character for him.

"I, uh, had a dream which you were in two months ago."

"A dream?" Fred asked, slightly incredulously. It seemed that their sub conscious seemed to be the one to tell them what was going on and it could only reach through the dream world. How true did that make Freud's theory about dreams and how wrong did it make others? (Sorry, I got psychologist in my blood and I couldn't help but add that Freud thing in.)

"Yeah. I was saying how I had to leave and you were crying and then I started crying and then..." Russ paused and looked at Fred and said, in a tone that said how he didn't believe it himself, "I love you." He laughed at himself lightly, "I love you and I don't even know you. But even since I was a little kid I always felt as if there was someone out there. But I never thought it was true. When I saw you I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought you were just a figment of my imagination, something my brain had made up to occupy me. But you're here and you're real..."

Russ touched a lock of hair, "I dreamt about this hair," He moved onto her neck, "This neck," Shifted up to her eyes, "These eyes," And lastly to her lips, "These lips. And now... Now you're right here, standing right in front of me and I can actually reach out and... I feel like I'm going crazy because I want to hold you and never let you go. I love you and this is the first time I've met you. How does that work?"

"I'm not sure it does." Fred said quietly and Russ swallowed hard. They looked into each other's eyes and Fred was the first to turn away, remembering that Russ couldn't even remember her so it was stupid to make herself think that he did. To keep hoping that recognition would sweep over his face and he would gather her into his arms and tell her what she wanted to hear, how much he missed and how he loved her and how he would never ever leave again. Fred snorted quietly and said to herself, "Knowing my luck you probably still remember that you're a Power." Russ caught this and his eyes widened slightly before, for the first time, his gaze diverted away from Fred.

"You have better luck than you think." He said, grimacing and then he jaw clenched visibly and as Fred looked at him she noticed this.

"Russ?" She asked and when he didn't reply. He glanced up at her and visibly relaxed.

"Sorry." He winced slightly, "I just... Don't really 'like' the Powers. I used to be a poor undernourished kid in the Bronx living with my mom. Then she died when I was eighteen and a little after that so did my dad in some helicopter crash. Anyway, my dad was this multi millionaire and all his money came to me. Then the Powers decide to come to me and make me work for them. _After_ I inherit millions. Nice timing."

"Maybe it was just coincidence." Fred said and shrugged. Russ snorted and looked at her slightly disbelievingly, doing his best to look at her disbelievingly and not derogatorily and, for once, it worked. But he could work on his speech.

"No such thing as coincidence." He said, eyes showing a depth of pain behind them. Fred was familiar with that pain. And she really felt for him. No human being, or half demon, or Power, should have to go through that pain. Russ bowed his head, feeling and dealing with the pain.

"And now what? I find out that I am one of them? I mean..." Russ trailed off when he lost the ability to put his feelings into words. Fred's eyes widened with concern for Russ and maybe if he'd been looking at her he would've noticed and smiled reassuringly but he was too wrapped in his own problems too notice.

"I'm sorry." She said and put a hand on his. He looked up at her, eyes big and innocent. She let a small smile creep onto her face and the end of his lips twitched upwards. He put his other hand on hers and took her hand into both of his and cradled it gently between his two larger ones, observing it as if it was the first time he was seeing someone else's hand. He then lifted it up to his lips and kissed it, gaze shifting up into Fred's eyes. She stared back into his, transfixed. He gave back her hand gently and continued.

"I'm Russet Brown, pleased to meet you." He said, slight smile playing on his lips and with a charm that Fred was the first to witness. The formal tone in his voice was immediately picked up by Fred who decided to follow suit.

"Winifred Burkle, I am inclined to say likewise to you Mr Brown." She said, a similar smile playing on her own lips.

"Please Ms Burkle," Russ leaned forward slightly at this, "Call me Russ."

"Then you should do the same, Russ, to call me Fred." Fred replied with a trace of one of those posh, high and mighty tones. Russ let the smile show through slightly more as she said this.

"As you wish, Fred."

"As always." Fred said cheekily and gave up her formal tone to giggle and Russ soon joined her, chuckling in his throat. They soon burst into full laughter and needed to support each other to stop from falling over. Then the laughter died down. First Russ stopped laughing, realising their position with Fred leaning on his chest and his head buried in her hair, and then Fred realised that the chest she was leaning on was no longer shaking with laughter and she made the mistake off looking up at him.

Talk about sexual tension! I mean, they were standing there looking into each other's eyes with that look. Y'know the whole tortured lovers look. The one where you can tell they love each other but _something_ is in the way. Think back to the days of Angel and Buffy after he returned from hell. The tension and long uncomfortable silences. Except Fred and Russ are more talkative, so they're more short uncomfortable silences. Anyway, this is one of those moments.

Then Russ was the first to move and he lowered his lips slowly to hers and their eyes started to close. Fred could feel his ghostly breath on her lips and he felt his heart pound in his chest... Then there was something else.

Suddenly Russ yanked his head backwards and looked to his left with a look that not many people saw. Fear.

Fred felt him pull away and looked up at him with a look that not many people saw on _her_ face. Hurt.

"Russ..." She trailed off and he seemed to remember what was about to happen and turned back to her, an apology on his lips.

"Fred I-" He started and she cut him off.

"If you didn't want to you could've just said." She said, hurt all over her face. Russ glanced to his side once more before taking her hands in his and saying with honesty written all over his face.

"Fred... Duck." He said and she looked at him in confusion.

"What?" She asked and he looked to the side of him and his face turned urgent.

"Duck! Duck!" He quickly ducked and pulled her down with him just as millions of little tiny demons with shrivelled up wings, claws and huge teeth flew above them. If they'd continued to stand their bodies would've probably been taken off. After fifteen seconds the crowd of demons had passed and they both stood to see the crowd regrouping off in the sky.

Russ ran and dragged Fred who was still staring after them. He explained as he ran into an alleyway and they ducked behind a dumpster.

"Those 'things' are from the Brazilian jungle. Demons. There was one in every village, feeding off the town population slowly. I was sent to a couple of the rowdier ones in the Brazilian villages where the local demon hunters couldn't kill them. Looks like they're targeting me. Strength in numbers I guess." Russ said and shrugged, surprisingly nonchalant for the current situation.

"They grouped together in a team of at least a hundred to attack you?" Fred asked incredulously.

"I guess they don't like me that much... At all." He said and grimaced. "Which, considering that I have killed quite a few of their kind, is understandable." Russ glanced around the side of the dumpster.

"How does it look?" Fred asked and Russ looked at her.

"Well, if I still had a death wish then it would be looking very good. But, hey, not with the death wish anymore. So... Not so good." Russ said and he glanced around the dumpster again. Fred looked around him and her eyes widened as she saw the scene in front of them. The cloud of demons were all gathered in the sky and they seemed to prepare for the dive, waiting for the two to leave themselves open or until their patience wore out. Hopefully the patience would be stayed.

"Need any help?" They both heard from behind them and they turned to see...

Cordelia. Standing there in all her Cordy glory with a huge broadsword at her side and a big grin on her face.

"Hey Russ!" She said and Russ just offered her a small, and clueless, smile.

After Note: Hey, I just realised that in both of the Job Well Done stories Cordy is introduced in the end of the second chapter... Of course, this was completely not intended. Seriously! I mean, I was going to get Angel at the end of this one but he's coming just a little bit later. Yeah... Well, cya guys!

JB


End file.
